The Show Must Go On
by LadyLush
Summary: Derek is working with Karen again after he moved to England with Ivy and their child three years ago without so much as a goodbye. Now he's back will Karen forgive him? Can Ivy deal with them working together again? Will unresolved feelings resurface? You know what they say, whatever happens, the show must go on.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hey guys! This is my new Karen/Derek multi fic. For those who have read my other Smash fic Wolf, I'm really sorry but since series two has aired I can't complete it. This new fic is set three years after the season two finale and hopefully will help make up for the fact that it ended before people were with who they were supposed to be with. Enjoy and review if you can.

* * *

It felt strange to be back here, in this office. Hell it felt strange to be back in this city, the city he had called home for well over a decade. Eileen's office. He could honestly say this was where his life had changed. He had met people he would never forget, he would work on musicals that would change his career and ultimately it led to him fathering a child. It was strange because it had not changed other than the exception of a Cabaret poster, featuring Ana, added to the rest of Eileen's productions. It was as though the last three years of his life hadn't happened. It could have been the last four years, and he could pretend that it was before Bombshell, before the life changing musical, because it was the exact same people sat in the office.

"So are you in?" Asked Eileen, bringing his thoughts back to what was at hand. "We need an amazing director and you need a production to show that you really are back in Broadway."

"Are you sure you even want me?" He asked, avoiding the question for a little while longer and pointedly looking at Tom. "If I am to work on this I don't want any backseat directing."

Tom rolled his eyes. "You'll have full reign. I'm going to be in LA for most of rehearsals anyway so you won't hear a peep out of me."

"You going to be with lover boy?"

"As a matter of fact yes I am," answered Tom, with a grin. "He's shooting a movie over there and as most of the songs are already written it would be a bit redundant for me to be here. Julia's already finished the book and I've added a few songs to it. I'll fly back for any workshops or major dilemmas but the rest I can just Skype."

"And you're alright with this?" Derek asked Eileen.

"Like Tom said, the music will only need a few tweaks to it and if we need any songs added later he doesn't actually need to be in New York to work on them."

"Derek, we've got it covered," assured Julia. "We just need to find our director and I for one, want it to be you. You are back in New York for good now, aren't you?"

Derek wanted to be back in New York for good, he really did but being out of the Broadway game for three years made him wonder if he was cut out for it still. Of course he'd worked on the West End in London, and even done a couple of film adaptions for the BBC but that was different. In London, he could leave the Daisy dilemma and the sex scandals behind and literally start a new life with Ivy and their son Jacob. Ivy had missed New York though and she had never wanted to leave her Broadway career for good and so they had returned. He was hoping that everything that had happened had died down and the prodigal director would be allowed to return unscathed. He knew however this would be unlikely, no matter how much he had changed, and so doing a production with his old friends would most likely be his only option. If this musical was a success, like he envisioned it could be, then he wouldn't have to worry about finding work.

"I'm definitely interested," said Derek carefully. "I'll need to read through the book first of course, but if its as strong as the movie version then I'm in."

"I want this musical to be issue free," warned Eileen, although the twinkle in her eye showed she was pleased. "No squabbles, no sleeping around and no defecting to other musicals. I want this to be smooth sailing all the way to the Tonys."

"Thinking that far ahead already?" Asked Derek, his eyebrow raised.

"Always."

"We need to start calling up some agents now," said Tom. "Get the ball rolling while I'm still in New York."

"I think we should go for unknowns," commented Derek. "The story is well known enough to pull it off."

"Actually, we've already cast Satine,"admitted Julia, delicately.

Derek frowned. "Who?"

Eileen glanced at Julia before answering. "Karen Cartwright."

Derek could feel his heart thump loudly in his rib age and he sincerely hoped nobody else could. He had thought about Karen during the years, had followed her blossoming career and had missed her terribly. More than what he had anticipated. He had known he would see her again but he hadn't expected to be working with her, for her to be his leading lady once again.

"Why?" Asked Derek, still trying to get his head around it. "We don't need a big name for this production."

"We don't need a big name but it sure wouldn't hurt," replied Eileen. "Karen is Broadway's sweetheart; audiences love her, investors love her and you know she's extremely talented. She's coming to the end of her contract with 'Alice in Wonderland' and she wants something she can sink her teeth into. She wants the Tony as much as I do."

"She's already got a Tony," said Derek, somewhat sullenly.

"As a supporting actress, she wants the big prize and I think she and the rest of us can achieve it," explained Eileen. "I don't see what your problem is. We're not compensating for a name over substance like we did with Rebecca Duvall. Karen is a Broadway star who has branched out into movies and tv, not the other way round. I have to say, Derek, I never thought I'd be defending Karen to you."

"Yeah I thought she was your 'muse'?" Asked Tom, air quoting. Derek took a deep breath, it was coming back to him quickly how testing Tom can be.

"I get it, Derek," interrupted Julia, sensing his discomfort. He sent her a grateful smile. "You came back to make a fresh start and I understand that but you know Karen is the best actress for the job. You pushed us all those years ago to see that."

"Sorry it's just that I didn't exactly part on good terms with her," admitted Derek.

"You didn't part with her on any terms because you didn't tell her you were leaving," corrected Julia.

Derek winced. "Does she even want to work with me again?"

"She thought about it for a while but she's a professional and got past whatever it is you had to get past," said Eileen. "I just hope you can do the same."

"Of course," said Derek, furrowing his brows. "Look, I know I did some stupid stuff when I was working on Hitlist. I hurt a lot of people; Ivy, Karen, Ana, and even Daisy in some respects (although she got what she wanted). It's not just my name to ruin now though, it's Jake's. I know exactly what it's like to have a father who's gossiped about and I don't want that for my son."

Julia smiled. "Being a parent is amazing. I can't wait to see him again, he was still so tiny when we opened Bombshell in London."

Derek pulled out his wallet from his inside coat pocket and slid out the latest picture he had of Jake. He smiled as he heard the awes from his companions. His son was cute. Ivy's cherub face, his green eyes and messy spiky blonde hair he had the best from both parents. "He's looking forward to seeing aunty Julia and aunty Eileen and even Uncle Tom."

"What do you mean even?" Scowled Tom. "He sees his Uncle Tom all the time on Skype." Whilst Derek and Tom had somewhat forgiven each other all those years ago, he'd not really kept in contact with him. However Ivy had, meaning Tom was very much Uncle Tom to his son.

Derek rolled his eyes. "I'm joking, Tom. Jake loves you, he'll be sad your heading west so soon."

"Well, we all seem on board with this project," smiled Eileen. "The matter of casting Christian is important though, he's an equal lead to Karen. I'll set up castings for late next week, I'll email you the details beforehand. After a few rehearsals I want to have a party for the investors and give everyone a taste. Luckily, unlike Bombshell, we're not short of funds so we can start without a major investor."

"I was thinking if we have a number of callbacks, we should get them to duet with Karen," said Julia. "It's important they have chemistry otherwise they'll both fall flat."

"And he'll need to match her in talent," added Derek.

Eileen nodded. "There has to be someone out there."

"We'll we here we go then," exclaimed Tom, clapping his hands together. "Welcome, to the Moulin Rouge."

* * *

"Ivy, I'm back," called out Derek, letting himself in the apartment and shrugging his coat off as he did so. "Have you and Jake eaten already?"

"I've fed Jakey," smiled Ivy. She was in the kitchen area, placing what he presumed was Jake's dirty dishes in the dishwasher. "I've just put him down for his nap."

Derek sat on the couch with a sigh. He felt Ivy's arms snake around his neck, hugging him from behind, her head resting on top of his. He placed a hand over hers, feeling himself relax in the familiar embrace.

"How was the meeting then?" Asked Ivy brightly. "Do you think you'll take the job?"

"I think I have very little choice to be honest, darlin," drawled Derek. "The likelihood of me walking into another production as easily as I can into this is very unlikely, despite the fact all I've done is good work in London."

"I'm worried it will be the same for me," admitted Ivy.

"You're an extremely talented Tony winning actress who has been in constant work in England," said Derek, giving her hand a squeeze. "You've got nothing to worry about. I thought you were going to take a break for a while and help Jake settle in first anyway."

"Of course," nodded Ivy. "I've got so many people to catch up with as well that I want a bit of time. But I still need to get back in the game at some point. I'm going to wait until I can audition for something amazing. It's a shame we agreed we wouldn't work together because this musical is going to be amazing. There's so much you're going to be able to do with the choreography and the sets."

"We've already cast the lead."

"Who?"

"Karen Cartwright."

He felt her whole body tense for the smallest of moments before she relaxed again and took a deep breath. "Karen... Wow! That's good, you guys work great together."

"Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Am I particularly happy? No," admitted Ivy, moving around the sofa to sit next to him holding his hand. "But when we made the decision to move back to New York I knew we'd see her again, we work in the same business. We're all grown ups and all the fall outs were so long ago and they seem so petty now. I meant what I said, you guys do work great together, much better than we ever did. If this production is successful then we know we made the right choice to come home."

Derek still had this brow furrowed. He was listening to what Ivy was saying and he believed that she meant it but he just wasn't sure if she could follow through. He was probably going to be spending more time with Karen than he would be with his own family. It was the nature of the business; the rehearsals, the parties, the interviews. He didn't want Ivy to resent him. "I'm giving you the choice to veto, darlin. Once I've started I won't pull out."

"Derek, we're fine," said Ivy firmly. "Me, you and Jake are happy here. Nothing, and I mean nothing is going to stop that."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Derek strolled into the rehearsal room coffee in hand, his long grey coat swinging behind him. He stopped up short in the doorway when he saw a blonde woman bent in front of the desks, getting things out of her bag at random, clearly looking for something. What she was looking for he didn't really care about. These were closed auditions, what he cared about was why the hell there was a random woman in his audition space.

"Excuse me miss, I don't know what you're doing here but you need to leave," warned Derek sternly. "This room is being used for auditions. For a male part. So unless you're hiding something very unexpected under that dress of yours I think you should go."

The woman stood up straight, her blonde long loose curls tumbling down her back, and stilled with a sharp intake of breath. "I know I look different but I never thought you'd fail to recognise me."

A whole range of emotions hit Derek like a kick to the stomach but the one that stood out was confusion. "Karen?"

She turned around and she was indeed Karen. In three years she looked the same except the startling shock of the long honey blonde hair, pulled back in a headband and flowing over hear shoulders. The same big brown eyes, the same beautiful face, the same Karen. Yet different. For one things, the old Karen used to (most of the time) look at him with a smile, with adoration. She was often the one person who made himself feel better. If everything went to pieces she'd still be there with a smile. All for him. Now she was looking at him with guarded eyes. Not the disgust she showed when he did something terrible, which he had thought was the worst feeling until now, but a wary look of distrust. "But you're..."

"Blonde?" Offered Karen, gesturing to her hair. He nodded not really trusting himself to say anything yet. "I'm currently Alice in 'Alice in Wonderland', I finish next week though. We do a lot of performances at children's hospitals and schools and my producer thought it would be easier and less confusing for the kids if I just dyed my hair blonde. I've just come from the children's hospital now actually, hence the hair and the headband and the silly white dress."

Derek noted she did have a Disney-esque look about her. "What are you doing here?"

He ignored how gruff his voice sounded and she raised her eyebrows in contempt. "Eileen invited me to help with the auditions. I'm going to get changed before anybody else gets here and we start."

She practically glided past him, making sure she didn't touch him in the slightest as she went through the doorway. He flung himself down on one of the chairs with a sigh. There was a time long ago when she would be always wanting to please him. He had known he'd probably get the cold shoulder, he deserved it, but it hurt more in reality than what he thought.

"I didn't expect you to be here so early," said Julia cheerfully, as she took a seat next to him.

"I didn't expect Karen to be here at all," said Derek dryly.

"I'm sorry," said Julia softly. "I only found out from Eileen yesterday. We did all agree that whoever we pick needs to have chemistry with her and Eileen thought it would be easier if we involved Karen from the start. Where is she?"

"Well a heads up text would have been nice," admitted Derek. "She's changing. Also a little heads up about the blonde hair too would have been good. I barely recognised her."

"I've got so used to it I forgot all about it," smiled Julia. "It'll be strange when she dyes it back. Did you apologise to her?"

"Apologise?"

"Oh I don't know Derek," pondered Julia sarcastically. "Maybe for leaving without saying a word to her, playing with her feelings like a yoyo, letting her think she'd done something wrong."

"The only thing she did wrong to me was fall in love with someone else," admitted Derek. "And then maybe acting a bit like a brat when she was with him. How is our dear Jimmy?"

"I wouldn't know," answered Julia conspiratorially. "It's not my story to tell and I'm sure when you and Karen are on better speaking terms she'll tell you, but, they're not together still. Haven't been for years. Probably made Karen even more mad that you left cause she needed a shoulder to cry on."

"She had Ana," said Derek guiltily.

"No she didn't," explained Julia. "She went on that tour, remember? The one you set up for her when you took her part away for a quickie."

He frowned at her smirk. "Please don't remind me of that. God, whatever happened please tell me she wasn't all on her own?"

"She had me," smiled Julia. "Which is why I'm telling you to apologise and if you act like your usual Derek self and upset her again you'll have me to deal with."

"Is that so?"

"Yep, and Ana's back too and let's face it you're not her number one either."

"I'll be on my best behaviour."

"Glad to hear it, Derek," said Eileen sharply. She took her seat as did Tom and Karen. He sent a half hearted glare at Julia when he realised where she sat had made it so Karen would be next to him. All she did was smile sweetly back.

He looked at Karen as unobviously as he could. She'd scraped her blonde hair into a high bun, and had changed from the sweet white dress into emerald green vest top, tight black jeans and a short black leather jacket. Her make up was slightly darker, a bit smokey, a bit sexy. His naive little green Karen had certainly grown up. It annoyed him.

"Is there anyone I know auditioning?" Asked Karen. He smiled when he realised she wasn't really so cool as she was looking cause he could he the traces of giddy excitement in her voice.

Eileen looked down the list. "There's no names I recognise. That's good though, this is a role that could do with some - shall we say - greenery."

"It would work," agreed Julia. "He's supposed to be naive and new to the world of the Moulin Rouge. He needs to feel overwhelmed, and make the audience feel overwhelmed with him."

"But not to be genuinely overwhelmed," added Derek dryly. "Why don't we send the first person in? Get this over with quickly."

* * *

Derek was getting more and more grumpy. Nobody they'd seen so far had impressed him very much. A couple of them he had noted might get a callback for an ensemble role providing they could dance but nobody with the calibre of leading man.

"If we don't find someone today then maybe we're gonna have to start sweet talking some agents," said Tom, saying what they were all thinking.

"We've still got half a list of people, guys," said Karen cheerfully. "We'll find someone."

"Karen, honey, as this is your first audition process this side of the bench I'll let you off for your optimism," said Julia.

"I have the faith," smiled Karen. "This is how you found me."

"Darling, you were a rare find," sighed Derek.

"Four years ago," reminded Karen, not looking at him and only addressing the others. "I'd say we were due someone else."

"Karen's right," said Eileen. "We can't give up now. Every one of us is more stubborn than that."

"Damian," called out Tom, to their hired piano player for the day. "Bring in the next guy I suppose."

Derek looked down at the call list. Troy Peters. Troy Peters could be anyone, it was just a name. For now.

"Oh wow," exclaimed Troy, causing Derek to look up. He was tall, sandy haired and blue eyed. Charming, boy next door. He could be Christian, if he could sing, dance, and not be cocky. "Sorry, I just didn't expect Karen Cartwright to be here."

Karen chuckled. "Relax, the other people behind this table are much more impressive than me, and the ones you need to impress."

Derek glanced at her, surprised and pleased to see she still blushed at attention and compliments. "You're not the first one who's gawked at her today and I doubt you'll be the last."

"I really am sorry," said Troy nervously. "I seem to speak before I think."

"Why don't you show us what you've got?" suggested Julia.

"I hope you don't think I'm being too cheesy but I've picked a song from the show," said Troy. He gestured to Damian to start playing the piano. Your song. It could be construed as a little cheesy, and he wasn't the first person to sing that song today, but the moment he started singing the opening notes everyone in that room knew it wasn't cheesy. He could sing and sing well. Nice soft tones that he knew would suit Karen's voice well. He wasn't overly broadway which is what he appreciated all those years ago when Karen first auditioned for Bombshell.

He glanced at the rest of the panel and caught Julia's twinkling eye. They shared a look of agreement. Troy Peters had officially caught their attention. Especially Karen's by the looks of things. Her eyes were glued to him, and he was singing to her with unwavering attention. He could tell she was captivated and perhaps a little flattered judging by the faint pink splash on her cheeks that hadn't faded since Troy had entered the room. It sickened him slightly but he couldn't deny the chemistry between his leading lady and this guy could be phenomenal on stage.

Eileen clapped when he had finished, complete with a delightful smile. "Very impressive."

"I agree," said Tom.

"Thank you," smiled Troy, bashfully running a hand through his hair.

"The resume's a bit light," grumbled Derek.

"Ignore Derek," scowled Karen before smiling sweetly at Troy. "He enjoys being grumpy. You were really good."

"I think it's safe to say you can expect a call back," said Julia.

"I'll look forward to hearing from you," said Troy, grabbing his sheet music and heading for the door.

"And Troy, I look forward to dueting with you," smiled Karen.

* * *

"Sorry I'm late!" cried Ana, as she came through the door and hurriedly made her way to sit on the couch with Karen. "But I did bring the wine."

"Good, cause I have the glasses," grinned Karen, grabbing them off of the coffee table.

"So how did it go then?" asked Ana, pouring a generous serving of red wine for the both of them.

"I think we've found our guy," said Karen excitedly, tucking her legs beneath her. "I mean, we are having a few people come to call backs but we already know this guy is perfect. His voice is amazing, he looks like a good fit, we just need to know if he can act and dance. Fingers crossed."

"That's great but you know that's not what I meant," drawled Ana.

Karen furrowed her brow. "Oh."

"Yes, 'oh'," exclaimed Ana. "Did the dark lord beg for your forgiveness? I hope you made him suffer."

"We barely spoke," she frowned. "He didn't apologise or explain himself but it wasn't really the right time I suppose."

"Don't defend him," ordered Ana angrily. "He didn't need to say everything he just needed to say sorry. Even after three years I can't believe what he did. He just toys with your feelings like you're worthless."

"I was the one that toyed, Ana," reminded Karen.

"That wasn't your fault," dismissed Ana. "Jimmy confused things for you. Derek shouldn't have said he cared for you and then knock up Ivy. He shouldn't have left without telling you. Even without the messy relationship you had with him, you were his friend."

"We had no relationship."

"Yeah but only cause things got in the way and don't deny it," said Ana, arching her eyebrow. "He was your person."

"I was never his, Ivy is his person."

"Just because he's with Ivy does not make her his person

"He didn't even recognise me," said Karen sadly, knocking back a large amount of wine.

"What!?"

"I mean, I wasn't facing him and I was in an Alice costume and I'm blonde now so I can't really blame him," explained Karen, letting Ana's face relax from the one of outrage she had on. "But it still hurt."

"I know," said Ana as she resting her head on Karen's shoulder.

"I don't really know what I was expecting," admitted Karen. "We're totally different people now, everyone's moved on. He doesn't need to apologise or explain, not really."

"Honey, I think everyone has moved on apart from you. And that's his fault."


End file.
